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Review
. 2016 Jan;49(1):16-20.
doi: 10.5946/ce.2016.49.1.16. Epub 2016 Jan 28.

The Role of Capsule Endoscopy in Patients with Obscure Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Affiliations
Review

The Role of Capsule Endoscopy in Patients with Obscure Gastrointestinal Bleeding

Yang Won Min et al. Clin Endosc. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) accounts for 5% of all gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding cases and is often caused by small bowel lesions. Capsule endoscopy (CE), which allows non-invasive visualization of the small bowel mucosa, has revolutionized the evaluation of OGIB. CE is preferred by both patients and physicians mainly because of its non-invasiveness, and is widely used as the first-line diagnostic modality for OGIB. The diagnostic yield of CE in OGIB has been reported to be in the range of 32% to 83%. Although no direct comparison has been made, a meta-analysis showed similar diagnostic yields between CE and double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) for OGIB. However, CE could enhance the yield of subsequent DBE and serve as a guide for optimizing the insertion route for DBE. Even after negative CE, selected patients could benefit from second-look CE for OGIB. In terms of outcomes, a favorable clinical impact after CE has been reported in several studies. However, observations indicate that CE might not influence clinical outcomes directly, but rather play a role in selecting patients with OGIB who are likely to benefit from subsequent evaluation and intervention.

Keywords: Capsule endoscopy; Diagnosis; Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding; Outcome.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest:The authors have no financial conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
A Kaplan-Meier curve showing rebleeding probability after capsule endoscopy in patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Kaplan-Meier curves showing rebleeding probability after capsule endoscopy in patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding according to capsulen endoscopy findings.

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